Based on the aggregated financial data for 2017 , with a net turnover of EUR 131.4 million which is a 21% increase over 2016, Latvian charter airline SmartLynx Airlines is the second among passenger air carriers and third among all passenger carriers in Latvia.

Overall, the number of passengers transported by SmartLynx is rapidly increasing with every year — in 2015 it reached 1.6 million, in 2016 – 1.9 million and in 2017 – 2.5 million passengers flew with SmartLynx. The company's flight precision (On Time Performance) is constantly improving — in summer of 2016 this indicator reached 89% for all charter flights. The Company is rapidly growing, and in 2017 its turnover increased by 21%, reaching 131.4 million EUR.

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The privately owned company was established in 1992 by four professional pilots and one flight engineer as LatCharter (the name derived from Latvia) and started operations in 1993 with a leased Tupolev Tu-134B aircraft.[3] The Tupolev fleet was replaced with the larger Yakovlev Yak-42 in April 2001, and then Airbus A320-200 by December 2003.[3]

In 2008, commemorating the airline's 15th anniversary, it was renamed SmartLynx Airlines, and new logo and livery were introduced.[10]

In 2012 the airline was bought from Icelandair in a management buy-out and is now a completely separate entity.[11] In 2012 the airline also formed a subsidiary Smartlynx Airlines Estonia with one Airbus A320-200 to serve Estonian tour operators.[12][13][14]

In 2016 a Netherlands-based investment fund became the owner of the company. A new logo was introduced.